Just a thank you
by pjoatladbz
Summary: Piper couldn't fall asleep. She had been tossing and turning in her bed for hours trying to get comfortable, but nothing seemed to be working. Percy and Piper bonding time.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own PJO/HOO. All rights belong to Rick Riordan**

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Piper couldn't fall asleep. She had been tossing and turning in her bed for hours trying to get comfortable, but nothing seemed to be working.

Part of Piper really didn't want to go to sleep. She knew that if she did manage to fall asleep, that nightmares were sure to follow, and that was something she wanted to avoid at the moment. Every time she would go to sleep her dreams were filled with the destruction and death of everything and everybody around her. She couldn't remember the last time she had a peaceful dream, or even a full nights rest. Being a demigod, it was always one thing after another, never really having time to stop and rest.

Piper soon found herself looking up at her cabin ceiling in boredom. She briefly wandered if any of the other demigods aboard the Argo were up, dealing with the same sleeping problems as her. But decided against bothering them this early in the morning with a problem that she was sure all of them were dealing with.

It wasn't long until Piper gave up on the idea of sleeping that night. So with a groan, she kicked off her blankets, put on her slippers, grabbed her knife from the dresser and headed for the door.

Once she was outside, Piper briefly thought about heading to Jason's cabin just to talk about her problems, but quickly dismissed the thought. When Piper had seen Jason earlier that day he had seemed really out of it. She knew he was under a lot of pressure with being the leader of the quest, and lately she knew the pressure was getting to him. So she decided to let him rest for the night.

Piper finally decided on heading to mess hall to grab a midnight snack, when the cabin door across from her opened, revealing a tired and confused looking Percy. They stood still for a moment, staring at each other in confusion, trying to figure out what the other was doing up without actually speaking.

Percy seemed to snap out of his daze first, because he silently mouthed _mess hall_ before quickly setting off. Piper sighed to herself, deciding that food sounded pretty good right now, and followed after him.

By the time Piper got to the mess hall the lights were already on, and she could here Percy rummaging through the cabinets in the kitchen trying to fix something to eat. So she just decided to sit down smiling to herself, already knowing that Percy would bring her something to eat.

Sure enough, 5 minutes later, Percy came out with two PB&J sandwiches and a glass filled with a weird blue looking drink. When he sat down next to Piper he turned and gave her a confused look.

"Aren't you going to fix something to eat?"

Piper's just looked at him shocked, as he took a bite into his sandwich. Her shock faced quickly turned into a glare as he continued to eat his sandwich, apparently unbothered by her glare.

When Percy finished his sandwich he immediately went to grab the second. Just as his hand was about to touch the bread, Piper's hand shot out to grab his and twisted it at a painful angle, resulting in Percy yelping out in pain.

"It's yours! It's yours!" He yelled out.

Piper grinned, as she let his arm go and grabbed the sandwich.

Percy was wincing, as he stretched out his arms trying to regain some feeling, "Jeez Pipes, were you trying to pull my arm out?" he asked.

Piper just shrugged at him. "If you call me Pipes again I just might do that."

Percy's eyes widened, and he vigorously shook his head no. Piper just smirked to herself knowing that she could scare him so easily.

A few moments passed with Piper just taking small bites into her sandwich, and looking around the mess hall in order to pass the time. From the corner of her eye she could see Percy staring at her intently, like he was trying to decide a way to get back at her for almost breaking his arm. Piper let it passed for the first couple of seconds, but after a minute she began to grow uncomfortable with his eyes studying her.

"You know, you're really pretty." He said suddenly.

Piper choked on her sandwich. "Uh, what?"

Percy just rolled his eyes. "I _said_ , you're really pretty." He finished calmly.

Piper tried to hide her blush. "Thanks, I guess." She was still confused on why he said it.

"Is it that hard to take a compliment?" He asked while chuckling.

Piper's cheeks flushed. "No, it's just that I don't understand why you said it."

It was Percy's turn to look embarrassed, "I just wanted to start a conversation and I thought what better way to start a conversation than with a compliment." he finished with a shrug. Piper smiled at his reasoning before turning to finish her sandwich.

As soon as she finished, Percy, handed her the cup with the weird blue drink inside, trying to encourage her to drink it.

"What is that?" Piper asked pushing the glass away from her face.

Percy nudged her hand away with glass. "It's just coke, Piper."

"Coke isn't blue." She said slowly scooting away from him.

Percy pulled Piper's chair back over to him, "Neither is grass." he finished while shrugging.

"That doesn't even make any sense."

"Neither does not drinking coke just because it's blue." Percy said.

"I think that's a perfectly valid reason to not drink coke." Piper tried to reason with him, but Percy just shook his head stubbornly. They just sat there for the next couple of minutes glaring at each other, trying to make the other give in. Finally Percy sighed and spoke up.

"C'mon Pipes, please?"

Piper sighed, realizing that Percy wasn't going to give this up anytime soon. "Give me the glass, Jackson."

Percy beamed at her, while handing the glass over, Piper took the glass, still wary that Percy was lying, and this might be some kind of poison. "If I die, I'm going to kill you." She said.

Percy rolled his eyes. "You can't kill me if you're already dead, Mclean."

Piper raised her eyebrows at him. "Try me, Jackson."

Percy just ignored her threat, prompting her to drink the mystery liquid. She slowly raised the glass to her lips, before taking a sip of the drink. When she swallowed, she was surprised to find out that it was in fact just regular coke.

Percy must've seen her face, because he just smiled and leaned back in his chair. "I told you that it was regular coke."

Piper didn't respond because she was too busy gulping down the rest of the glass.

"Hey!" Percy said jumping up and snatching the blue coke out of Piper's hand. "You almost drank the whole glass." He complained. Piper just shrugged at him, not really caring.

"You always drink after people?" Piper asked him after he took a sip.

"Nope, just you." He said shrugging.

"Aw, I feel honored." She said putting a hand over her heart. Percy chuckled in response, handing the glass back over to her.

Piper took another sip of the blue coke, "So what makes it blue?" she asked curiously.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He said, leaning over to ruffle her hair. She scowled at him for messing up her hair. "Jeez Piper, your hair is a mess." He said jokingly.

Piper smirked before answering. "Funny you'd say that, since not too long ago I remember you calling me _really pretty."_ Piper's smirk widened when she saw him straighten up.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He said leaning back in his chair. "I still haven't heard a proper thank you."

"And you're not going to get one." Piper said mimicking him.

He lightly kicked her foot with his. "C'mon, just one thank you." He said, pouting.

"Stop flirting, Jackson," Piper joked. "Unless you want to deal with two angry blondes in the morning."

Percy just smirked and leaned forward until he was in directly in front of Piper's face. "Why? Does this make you nervous, McLean?"

Piper didn't blush like he expected her too. Instead, she just leaned closer until she was next to his ear, "Not at all, Jackson. What about you though? Am I making _you_ nervous?" she purred.

"N-No." Percy responded, but his voice betrayed him. Piper leaned back in her chair, laughing at him.

"I didn't know I could make you so nervous." Piper paused, before leaning closer to him again. "Something you're not telling me Percy?"

She laughed even harder when she saw how flustered he became trying to come up with a response. "Relax Jackson; I'm just messing with you. Besides you're not really my type. I'm only into blondes."

Percy grinned, finally relaxing. "Now _there's_ something we can agree on."

After a few more minutes of some more playful banter, they both decided that they should at least try and get some rest.

Once in front of their respective cabins, they both mumbled their good nights to each other before turning to go enter their door.

"Hey, Percy?" Piper called, turning around.

"Yeah?"

She quietly walked over and planted a small kiss on his cheek, before whispering "Thanks."

Percy gave her a small smile. "No problem, Pipes."

Before she could protest the nickname he closed the door in her face. Piper could only shake her head and smile, before turning to her own room and walking inside.


End file.
